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This section is all about me (Ari Sabouni). The initial founder/creator of the site. This section is all about me (Ari Sabouni). (If you want more about why, you can read the About section). What is life if it isn't sharing our experiences and perceptions, in the hopes that others can chuckle or learn from them? I learned long ago, that the process of writing and organizing my thoughts is cathartic, and once completed, I can, "let it go". ℹ️ Info           ~ Aristotle Sabouni

Title	Summary
1974 🌿 Marijuana	I was an experimental kid, that was far more aware of many things than adults knew, and they knew I was pretty precocious. one of my early discoveries was the joy of the marijuana. But I was never really a pot-head. For some reason, I liked self-control, so I would occasionally get stoned -- but pretty limited and only in time appropriate ways.
1976 Ridgeline Country Club	Ridgeline Country Club - I was a caddy, gopher, dish-washer, bus boy, and sous-chef for the local posh country club (and the Presidential Chef, Skippy). It wasn't THAT posh, but I got good at golf and tennis -- and cutting/cleaning vegetables. While my parents were into status symbols and brand names, it didn't stick as well for me.
1977 Soccer Camp	I did a soccer camp in the summer of '77. My parents tried to get me away for summers, weekends, and whenever they could. (I sometimes had that effect on people). But I had a great time, made friends, memories. And one of the last summers I had without a job.
1977 Watts	Watts (Construction) - While I was a rural/burb kid, I lived summers with my Uncle in Hollywood, or Grandparents in Burbank. Hustling on Sunset, being "white bread" working in Watts. I learned a lot working in South Central. Most of it was not good stuff; racism, corruption, contempt/distaste for the inner-city subculture.
1978 Backpacking goes bad	After 4 weeks in the Sierra's "camping" now means no room service.
1978 Cinedome Theaters	I did a summer job I did was at the local movie theaters; the Orange Cinedome, which has since been torn down. It was one of the last 70mm theaters in the area. I was young, biking the 5 miles down wasn't bad; riding back after my shift, with an uphill grade, was a lot tougher. Getting there without being disheveled in the heat wasn't always easy.
1978 🚘 Objects in the sideview mirror	I was 14 the first time I was hit by a car. I was riding along in the bike lane, in high gear, pedaling like kid on his way somewhere; when BANG! I saw stars and was rolling in the dirt on side of the road. I saw the pickup truck had those extended mirrors, and it had hit me in the back of the head, and took me out. I was sorely concussed, he never stopped.
1979 🚘 You never see it coming	The 3rd time I got him by a car was riding home from school. I used to ride my bike to school and back, occasionally. It was about 6 miles from home, so I could take the bus. But every now and then I got adventuresome and would ride in myself.
1979 🚘🌿 Driving while stoned	The second time I was hit by a car, I was doing something stupid. A friend had "borrowed" his mom's car. He wasn't exactly of legal age, but my reasoning about driving with idiots was "hey, it's their problem if they get arrested". Well, we went and got lit, came back, and while I was getting out of the car, he rolled forward, caught my leg and ran me over. Ouch!
1979-1982 Compusound	I hung out in a computer store, and I sold Computers by asking people, "What would you like to use it for?" By listening to their answers, I could solve their problem, and sell them a computer AND my programming services. After I got my drivers license, I was consulting to places like Brunswick Defense and Glendale Unified School District.
1980 Black Widow	Being bitten by a black widow spider was not fun. I'd gone frogging, and then later had these muscle spasms, puking, and writhing in pain. My Mom said, "Food poisoning, next time don't eat frogs", and left me for a party. I spent the evening curled up in cramping pain, until I passed out.
1980 Brunswick Defense	My first aerospace contract was Brunswick Defensee. The bowling ball folks had a weapons division in Costa Mesa, and I worked on two wespons systems there (anti-runway missile and anti-bunker rocket) writing Quality Control Software. I wrote the controls/analysis software for the Lab/Test Equipment that did pressure or temperature tests to make sure the toys made Boom-booms only when expected.
1980 Cray Time	Boeing had a Cray-1 Super-Computer.... and since they couldn't use it 100% of the time, so they would sell/lease any excess computer time to companies that didn't have one. My Dad worked for Boeing Computer Services, selling that excess capacity. I was into computers and the only kid on my block or school that logged any Cray-time.
1981 Ford Aerospace	The defense industry was hysterical, and there are so many stories to tell about these weapons systems. There were thousands of people, but it was a small industry with characters, and insanely funny programming mistakes in the way that non-life-or-death software can never be. Ford had a few of the best "gaffes".
1981 🚘 Paved Paradise and ran me over in a parking lot	After getting hit a few times, I was on the lookout for cars. Crossing a driveway, I made eye contact with the guy, looked into the street to see that nobody was coming, and when I looked back, to my disbelief, the guy that I'd just made eye contact with had sped up? WTF? I had just enough time to hop up onto his hood as he hit me.
1982 Ideal Computers	I walked into the local Computer Store in Kankakee (while going to school in area), and just pretended I worked there. I was helping people with sales and support until I found the manager, and since I'd already sold one computer and supported another, I got him to hire me. Later, I made their largest sale until I was sabotaged by a professor.
1982 ⚕️Nose Job	My first "major" medical procedure was a nose job. When I was a young kid (age 8), I was climbing over a cinderblock wall when the top brick came off, smashed my nose, and left me sounding like Darth Vader for a decade. That and being Iranian/Italian gave me a beak. So the summer before college, I had my nose fixed.
1983 Pertec Computer Corporation (MITS)	Back from Illinois (first semester of College), I had to work to pay for school. So at 18 I went to work for Pertec part time (they had bought MITS of Altair fame: the first Microcomputer). I started "at the bottom" QA (Quality Assurance), as I didn't have a degree (and they had snobs). But I kept writing utilities, games and tools in my spare time that was showing up their programmers, so they let me go.
1983-1986, 1994 Rockwell • North American Aviation (NAAO)	I started coming of age at NAAO, working on the B-1B Bomber (Lancer). I got my security clearance, learned to deal with eccentric co-workers, learned about nepotism, Corporate Politics is about more than just hard work, and how not to mix substance abuse and work, got "hit on" in front of my parents, and learned how NOT to exit a company.
1986-1988 Rockwell • Collins	After I left Rockwell, I went to work for Rockwell. I moved from Airplanes (NAAO) to Collins Radio and was working on the MILSTAR Satellite Communication Terminal: a system that was used for most of the secure military battlefield communications. Never have I worked with such a ragtag bunch of humans... and had the time of my life. It was a lifetime of experiences in 3 1/2 years.
1987 Skydiving	Yes, I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane. Twice. To me, it was no big deal. I just wanted to experience freefall, and enjoyed flying. I didn't think of it as very dare-devilish, though some others do. I had statistics on my side, but gravity and physics was working for the opposition. Then I met a Hustler Honey, and wanted to jump again.
1988-1991 Baxter	After I left Rockwell the second time, I went to work for Baxter (Edwards Critical Care division), where I made medical instruments (including one used to save my wife's life). While saving lives wasn't as "interesting" as weapons systems to take them; it provided life lessons about dating on the job, the costs of defensive medicine, and just the problems in the provider side of healthcare.
1991 Relsys, Oracle (Alcon, Spectramed)	Dave Bajaj and I worked at Baxter, but the company had a cost cutting measure that eliminated the consultants. Dave started his own biomed consulting company: Relsys, and I was his first employee, working out of the spare room in his house, and helped with the demo that got him his first contracts (Alcon and Spectramed) beating out much larger companies.
1992 Workstation Technologies • UMAX • SuperMAC (Nortel)	I moved to Mac Application Development creating QT-VCR. The job was creating a QuickTime VDIG and a dithering algorithm for teleconferencing (for Nortel), and QT-VCR a commercial application used for recording and playback of streams, at a small startup WTi (Workstation Technologies, Inc), later acquired by UMAX/SuperMAC.
1992-1994 American Zettler	I combined Medical Device Interfaces and Mac Development, with Zettler's Nurse Call system (Sentinal). It managed Hospital administration and nursing staff to allow patients to call for nurses and track their responses. They were losing contracts and going into litigation, but I went on site to many Hospitals, hired Engineers and Quality Assurance teams, and turned the product from legal disaster to cash cow.
1995 ⚕️Heart Surgery	My wife has a broken heart; and no I don't mean that I stepped on it, left her, or hurt her feelings; though I'm sure I've hurt her feelings a few times. No, literally her heart isn't quite right, or even close to right -- and it effects all of us. And very early in our Marriage, we had to get it fixed. Open Heart Surgery sure puts perspective on life/love/relationship.
2001.09.11 The Towers Fell	On 9/11/2001, I worked at a Newspaper improving their Internet presence. My office was in the Press building, when a friend came in and said, "A plane has hit the Twin Towers". And I thought, "another silly pilot flew into it while in fog or something, like happened to the Empire State Building in 1945."... but I went to the newsroom to see what's up.
2006-Present Adobe	After I left 3M, I decided to do some time in the Valley (Silicon Valley), and work for Adobe. This was going to be a few year gig to fluff up my Résumé and move on. But the company stuck and I worked there longer than any other company. I managed their relationship with the largest companies in the world for 12 years, until I got a bad manager. Then I moved on to Program Manager for Adobe Sign.
2017	Best of 2017
23andMe	I did 23andMe, just because it's fun to see the mutt that I am. My ancestors humped their way across the globe. According to Family I was 50% Iranian, 25% German, 25% Italian. According to science? World Mutt. More Native American than Elizabeth Warren, and a lot more of everything else.
9-11	On 9/11/2001, I went to work at a Newspaper when, "A plane has hit the Twin Towers". I thought, "another silly pilot flew into it while in fog, like happened to the Empire State Building in 1945?"... but it wasn't that. This is about my experiences, how the FakeNews has distorted history and used a tragedy to divide and polarize us.
Agnostic	I used to call myself an Atheist, because I don't believe in an anthropomorphic (humanized) "God". But most of the public atheists were douche's that I was embarrassed to be associated with. Plus there's always doubt: we don't know what's out there beyond our comprehension, so being too definitive is being close minded.
Baby Pics	I don't have a lot of pictures of my youth. My Parents weren't picture takers, and I think some early ones brought up awkward questions, so I only have a handful.
My Bias (1974)	Everyone is biased, I'm open about mine, so that people can decide if I'm right in spite of them, or where I go wrong (if they disagree). It started in 5th grade when I learned early that the School textbooks and teachers were indoctrinating me with lies (spin). So cynical skepticism (what's the other side of the story) was ingrained early, and forms my world view.
Bidet	I did a training at Google, and they had the fancy Japanese style bidet toilets in their visitors center. Since I was using the facilities, I tried it out. Not bad. I decided to get one for the home -- hey, a few hundred bucks to a squeaky clean pooper sounded like a fair trade to me.
Broken Arm: 1971	The first time I broke my arm, I was about 7, and I did it on an after school swim team that I was on... which begs the question, "How did you break your arm on a swim team?" The answer is stranger than you might expect...
Broken Arms	Many people have never broken a limb. I'm not one of them. My left arm seems to like to snap like a twig. I've broken it five times. No, it isn't weak, and I don't have osteoporosis or brittle bone disease - I actually just do dumb things or get unlucky, and sometimes both. These are my stories.
Bug Out Bag	Whether you call it Emergency Kit, Zombie or Bugout Bag, Prepper Pack, or SHTF (Shit Hits the Fan), it's all the same. Everyone should plan for contingencies. The likelihood you'll need one is far more likely that you might think. So the question isn't if you should have one (you're irresponsible if you don't), the question is more what items fit your best guesses.
Cars greatest hits	Deathrace 2000: Some people tell their kids, "watch out for cars" -- for me that was always an understatement. I was one of those lucky kids that got hit by a car, over and over and over again. My final score was; Cars:4 Me:0 -- and that was just as a pedestrian, as a driver I had a few more accidents.
Cassandra complex	I seriously have a Cassandra complex (cursed with being right, and not being listened to). I felt like that a ton as a kid. Since as young as I can remember, it would hurt me that I could see things that were happening (or going to happen), that adults would ignore me on, and people would get hurt, because they couldn't listen to a kid.
Cleveland, Ohio	Culture Shock: Moving to Ohio from California. We relocated for a job opportunity: as a California native, this was going to be an interesting opportunity for personal growth. I love learning and information -- about people, technology, history, or just stuff. Ohio (or the midwest) may be old hat to many readers -- but to me, it is totally fresh information.
Collins: Hacking	I had been a bit of a grey-hat hacker in High School and College(s). I was never the worst/best, both because I could be lazy about it, and because I had better things to do. But broke into many system (non-maliciously). But after a few friends got arrested by the FBI, I had to have a reason to not leave well enough alone. I was having too much fun getting paid to be criminal about things. Until one day...
Collins: Mihn & Klaus	Since I had solved two impossible problems (that others had failed on), my third job at Rockwell Collins was to write all the initialization and built-in test code (INIT/BIT), and as a 22 year old contractor, to manage 2 other 40-something year old employee engineers that hated each other (and didn't like consultants). So I just wrote all the code, gave them the credit, everyone was happy, and we completed on time.
Collins: Permission	As a consultant you were paid to get things done. Over, under, around or through: problems will be solved. Permission was politics for the employees: I either solved problems or they would bring in better contractors who could. It made me far more productive than the employees, but resented when they had to follow the rules and clean up the politcal messes made by those that didn't.
Collins: Space Shuttle Challenger	We watched the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on the live feed at Rockwell that morning. When it blew up, there was a bit of stunned silence. After a while, I walked back to my desk, and thought about the lives lost, and the politically correct environment, and what it would mean. Then I used a big red canceled stamp across a poster that was on my cubical wall: turns out, that was not a politically correct move.
Collins: Sushi	Two Girls, a Guy, and a Sushi Place. Actually, a few more than that. At Collins, Sushi became a weekly ritual. I've tried lots of foods; frogs legs, snails, game animals, snakes, and just about anything. After all, if God didn't want us to eat Animals, he wouldn't have made them taste so good. Back in the 1980's Sushi was exotic, and this was before "Sexual Harassment" stifled people's bawdy talk during the two martini (or beer) lunches.
Collins: Time to go	Another job, another 3+ years on a 6-month contract. And again, it turned out I made many friends and one enemy -- but one wrong enemy is all it takes (especially as a consultant). So I left on less than optimum terms: with one enemy and many friends. But when they tried to make me look bad after I was gone, it backlashed, and Karma exposed my detractors as not very bight big-mouths.
Computer Experiences	They say experience is what you get, when you didn't get what you wanted. I'm not completely sure about that, and I often got exactly what I wanted (and then some) from my early experiences in Computers. This is the Computer stuff that's often too brutally honest to be in any Résumé, some glory, some shame. But just stories about me, computers and usually in the 1980's.
Cozumel, Mexico	The best family vacation, ever. Family vacation trips can be stressful. My recent vacation exemplifies a "typical" family vacation for me; and people wonder why I'm a home body? Seriously, I had a good time, but was wrecked after I got back. And this remains the best family vacation we ever took.
Dads	I've had no Dads, I've had many Dads. It was the age of discipline, it was the lord of the flies... My Mom had me at 19 to my real Dad who was Iranian, and then had a couple of re-marriages -- where I took on the names and identities as various step-Dad's kids, with significant bouts of self-raising (as a latchkey kid).
Dark Kid	Growing up, I was a dark kid -- I looked much more middle-eastern than I do as an adult. Today people think I'm white, but back then when kids attacked me they'd call me a little camel jockey, sand-nigger, or stuff like that. This was a bit ironic since the rest of my family was blonde.
Dating at work	They say that even animals know not to shit where they eat; or in less vulgar words, that you shouldn't date out of the office pool. I'm not one to learn lessons the easy way; so I tried it. Twice. In all honesty, when you are a work-a-holic or just a modern person that works a lot, how are you going to meet people? My experiences weren't bad, but I can see how they could have gone very badly
Dave Bajaj	Through life and work, I've met many different people and made long friendships, and short ones. One person I worked with at Baxter Edwards was Dave Bajaj. Dave was a soft-spoken Indian guy, who was pedigreed (M.S. in C.S.), easy to get along with, and smart. He also worked hard and took his job and productivity, seriously. I don't know if he was a mentor, idol, or just an example, but there were a lot of things that I admired.
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DoodleBook	DoodleBook: I hacked my MacBook by doing a custom paint job (with my own doodle on the inside), and making my MacBook a bit psychedelic. Later, I sold it and swapped the case back -- and kept the doodle.
Electric Bike	I have an electric bike that I ride. It's a 55lbs beast, but I like it. One of the things that people who don't ride them think is, "that's cheating". The truth is the opposite. Since the bikes boost your pedaling, and we like to get places faster, I tend to pedal MORE, like continuously, when I'm on the e-bike (no coasting).
Favorite Books	Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... these are a few of my favorite things. Just a few books that were worth the time to read. Or at least impacted me in my youth.
Favorite Videos	Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens... these are a few of my favorite things. Just a few videos that are worth the time to watch... some by me, some are by others. From motivational speakers, to life experiences, toastmasters speeches, and a little politics and comedy to break things up. I think each of these is worth the time invested.
First Network Gaming Party	My fiends and I (from the Mousehole), did the first Mac Network Gaming Party.
Genius is Insanity	Sanity is behaving normal. Genius is abnormal IQ (usually ≈1.5 times "smarter" or more logical than others. Geniuses insight means they might not act/behave normal (or as a normal person might)... thus to the normal, they are insane. Or at least that's how it worked in my childhood. I had to explain many actions and thought processes, so the muggles wouldn't lock me up.
Getting my CCW	The other day, I went and got my CCW (License To Carry a Concealed Weapon). Well, technically, I took the class to get my CCW, and have filled out my forms (it'll be a couple months before I get them back). It was an experience that I figured I'd share.
Grand Theft Auto (1994)	In my late 20s, from my condo, I saw 3 kids were were peeking in car windows, I investigated. They were stealing car stereos (or cars), as one was inside, the others were lookouts. They had knives: I had drew a gun, and encouraged them to leave at a high rate of speed. They complied.
Homes	Pictures of place we've lived, owned, or had as rental properties. Where you're from and what experiences you had, sort of define us -- or at least leave marks. Plus re-visiting them in pictures brings back memories.
Housing and Urban Development	HUD (Housing and urban development) has various programs that are meant to help low income and first time buyers into their own homes. Sounds great, right? Too many people can’t afford a house, so a little wealth redistribution ought to help them out? Yet, in many cases the opposite has happened. Here's my story about some of the negative and unintended consequences of HUD.
Humble brag	Humble brag - why am I so humble? Because everyone knows more than me about something. Smarter than most people, on most things, also means that an average person knows more than me on at least one thing (even something I think I know). And there's other smart people out there that know more than me on a few things. You gotta ask questions to find out what.
Jared (2003)	Another Holiday, some dread and anticipation at visiting family. The soon to be bitter-sweet memories of both sharing time, remembering past and present experiences, and having that past buttons pushed in ways that those close to us know how to push them (especially Italians). But friends tragedies keep the perspective; time is fleeting, and all memories matter.
Jury Duty 1998	A jury is made up of 12 people too dumb to lie? I had not been called for Jury Duty, ever before… then my luck ran out; I received "the summons". I must admit my curiosity at doing my civic duty, was tempered with the thrill of driving to downtown San Diego (in rush hour), dealing with my fellow man (which I don't always think too highly of).
Jury Duty 2013	After 4 days of picking Jurors, they finally asked me questions and decided I wasn't one of the droid they were looking for, and they let me go. Primarily, it got to questions about why I taught Martial Arts, and saying, "because I really don't like bullies" was all it took for the preemptory challenges to let me go free, with a fist bump from another juror.
Just a burger	I invited a friend to go for a burger, then had to clarify it meant "just a burger". He was OK with it... but a little perplexed at the added clarification. What else would it mean? This is my story, of why I act like a teenage boy and titter to myself whenever someone says they want a burger.
Karate Breaks: 1987 & 1988	My next big break (pun groan), was when I was 24 and in Martial Arts tournament, sparring (blue/green belt). I took a kick to the arm, and kept going. My wing kept hurting, and after nearly passing out a couple times, so I went to the Hospital and had it X-rayed. They got it wrong (ignored a hairline) it snapped a week later. Then I re-snapped it a couple months later.
Life Experiences	Life experiences make us who we are (or influence it). Experience is what we get, when we didn't get what we wanted. Here's a few stories from my past that made me who I am, or at least influenced it or reflected it.
Loading a gun with a broken arm	Besides a Ruger .22 that I had (and a rifle or two), I decided that my first gun should be a hand-cannon: the Desert Eagle .357 magnum Semi-Automatic. (They didn't yet make the .44 or .50). When I broke my arm, I needed it chambered, and I couldn't use my arm. Pinching it between your legs and pulling turned out to be a very strong life lesson on "what not to do".
Medical	I think everyone has had at least some "pleasant" experiences at the Doctors offices. If you haven't, you will. I sometimes am left to wonder if the AMA is conspiring with Gerbels, Mengela, to think of new procedures to torment, humiliate, or outright torture the common man. "We could do a MRI or cat-scan; but an endoscopy would be much more fun... for us".
Mom	So my Mom passed last week. Everyone dies, and she got out pretty easy, just quick heart pains and a few minutes later she was gone. While we weren't very close, in some ways it's been harder than I expected. While I was prepared for the loss, allowing others to grieve, means that I have to both re-live unpleasant past events (or distortions of it), and bite my tongue.
Mr. Volcano Head	The first body I found was in 10th grade. I was in Water Polo as an after school sport, which is ironic since I had to show up by 6:30am to work out. Somebody had decided to exit this mortal coil with a mind expanding experience involving splatter art on a shed wall. And I was the second to notice, got the cops and helped the catatonic girl.
My Colonoscopies	Lights, Camera, Action: the joy of endoscopies. Sometimes you've got to wonder who thought up the idea of making a prehensiled marital aid, and probing people's orifices with it; or what their true motivation was. I had the pleasure of taking it from both ends; a couple times. These are my stories; the names have been kept the same to incriminate the guilty.
My Education	These are some stories from my life experiences going to school (starting in the 1970's). I have problems with education in America, as I've been a victim of it, I worked for educational software companies like Jostens Learning, did a startup in PowerSchool, and taught Martial Arts for a couple decades. So I've seen education from different perspectives.
My experiences with cops	Cops aren't good or bad, they are both. They are people, doing a shitty job, and following the policies (more or less) that they have to, in order to get ahead. There are some areas with worse policies. And there are areas that have some worse cops. Still, I've seen much more cops trying to do the right thing, than bad cops. Even if that perspective gets lost.
NAAO: Eccentricity and Aerospace	Aerospace in general, and Rockwell (NAAO) in specific (in 1983) was a strange place to work at times. There were many types of people there; nerds, lifers, a few interns, lots of managers, and a few genius eccentrics. Then there are some consultants that are temporary workers (treated like whores, and expected to produce while being ridiculed for making more than everyone else). Of the groups to belong to, I think I lucked out.
NAAO: Exit, stage left	I left when I was 21, and it wasn't on the best of terms. They'd changed my bosses many times during the 3+ years I'd been there, all on a "6 month contract". But they put this person in charge of me who hated me, and everything I represented. Meaning that I was competent, smart, secure, younger, and I didn't have a degree. The youthful self-righteousness didn't help. So I went out making one enemy and many friends.
NAAO: Keep it in the family	My mother was a placement person with a technical consulting company and was tired of me working for the competition (or going direct). It was time to work for her company. It was torture: less pay, respect, more scrutiny, and a Mom that wasn't "low key". Add in the humiliation of my Dad also visiting my work representing another company. Being a teenager you want to keep your personal and professional life as far away from your parents as possible.
NAAO: Security Clearance	My first Security Clearance was was amusing process. Mostly it was as exciting as filling out an IRS audit: a lot of DoD (Department of Defense) forms. I knew I was going to have problems, as my real-father was from Iran, I had multiple names, and had been an experimental kid (when it came to sex, drugs, and rock and roll - dumb life experiences weren't going to slip by me unexplored).
NAAO: Thirsty Isle	Burgers, beer and atmosphere: we used to occasionally do lunches at this place across the street from MacDonald Douglas and Rockwell, and not far from the Long Beach Airport, called "The Thirsty Isle". This story should also be captioned, "why I never drink during work lunches".
Optavia	My weight kept edging up with age (big suprise). So i tried Optavia as a "diet" (e.g. lifestyle). I went from 219 - 172, and from 38" to 32" pants (with room to spare).
Overcoming Anxiety	It was 1988, I was 24, and I didn't know what was happening to me. I was in my bedroom having yet another panic attack, though I didn't know what it was. I just knew everything was wrong and I was in pain, and that Doctors didn't know or care. It was a dark time... but it was also an inflection point where I started working on getting better.
Pets	Pet's that I've owned, borrowed or lost. Some of them were just animals I cared for, many had strong personalities and I bonded with and thus missed when they passed, got lost, or eaten. Plus re-visiting them in pictures brings back memories.
Phobias and Anxiety	I learned a lot about phobias and anxiety the hard way. I was a precocious kid and early adult, and then something snapped. It helped me learn firsthand what these are and are not. I am not a psychologist but I've read quite a bit on the subject. I am hoping that explaining some of these experiences will help others with "phobias" recognize what they are, or help others to understand them a little better.
Photoshop	Collection of stories about Photoshop
Pig Sty	Back in the day (late 70's and early 80's) there were a lot of BBS's (Bulletin Board Systems), and the elite ones were for Pirates, Hackers, Crackers and Phreaks. The famous ones in Orange County (where I was from) were Adventurers Tavern, Crows Nest, Pig Sty, and Mousehole. I was on all of them.
Poison Oak	This is a video by me, on how I earned my superpower, with the help of poison oak and public humiliation in Junior High School. When your junk becomes the talk of Jr. High School, and they line up to see it at shower time, you kind of get over any shame or humiliation. I felt like a woman giving birth on TV... at 14.
Political Events	I like to make notes of things I noticed, observed, saw while attending a dinner, event, rally, or other outings. These are where the commentary on the political ones goes.
Pulling a gun	These are the stories of my experiences pulling a gun to stop crimes, and how it differs from the stereotypes. In my life, I have personally used a gun to end an altercation three times. A rape, an armed car robbery, and a drug dealer or pederast trying to pedal something on a not so helpless young lad. Overstated examples that guns doing more good than harm.
Racism, Sexism, Homophobia	Crybullies have abused words like Racism, Sexism, Homophobia from once having meaning and bite, to being things that idiot wokies call everything they disagree with, and thus having no meaning or bite. Statisical observation is racism or sexism. Supporting gays but not gay marriage is homophobia. Their words mean nothing any more.
Rape is not OK (1980)	While hunting in the woods where I grew up (rural Orange County). I heard some screaming altercation, and when I investigated, a guy had torn the top off a struggling woman and was progressing towards rape, when I said in my outdoor voice, "is there a problem here?!" He saw the rifle, and decided that it was time for him to leave the scene.
Road to Recovery	It was 1988, I was 24, and I didn't know what was happening to me. I was in my bedroom having yet another panic attack, I knew everything was wrong and I was in pain, and that Doctors didn't know or care. I researched and learned on my own (no thanks to Kaiser) that it wasn't just "in my head" and that it was physiological as well as psychological. And both could be fixed. This is my path.
Sex	Everything I know about sex in one article: in, out, repeat if necessary. Finished. Actually, this is more just about articles that have a topic about sex. And maybe there's some pearls of wisdom in there... or if not, I'm just the grain of sand that irritates the oyster into making a pearl (to borrow a quote from Ross Perot).
Smoking on a plane	Flying back to O.C. from a semester at an Illinois College in 1982. Back then spoke-and-hub meant it was cheaper to fly from Chicago to L.A. via NYC's JFK airport (no direct flights for you). I'm on a 747, in the middle of its 3-4-3 seating, and the girl next to me sparks up a doobie in honor of Nancy's "just say 'no' to drugs campaign", and I got lit.
Snakes	As a kid, I used to catch snakes and sell them to pet stores. I read about 20+ books on snakes, and had lots of first hand experience. I've been bit many dozens of times: but never by venomous ones -- despite catching a few of them, and keeping one as a "pet" for a while.
Speed Traps 2002	I became a victim the other day of the oldest racket in the book. The mafia calls it the "protection" racket: extorted to pay them for protection... from themselves. Of course the mafia racket is more humane since it doesn't have the full force of local, state and federal government behind it, or the facade of lawfulness to hide behind.
Stairway Break: 2015	So I'm minding my own business, walking down the stairs and swoop -- my feet hit something slippery on the edge of the step, and shot out from under me. My arms go out, and my right catches the bannister, my left braces behind me on the stairs and I go down pretty hard. Ouch. I didn't know it right away, but another broken arm.
Suicide is Painless	Suicide is painless, it brings on many changes... at least according to the song. Obviously, I didn't commit suicide, or that would make this article a lot more interesting. These are just a few stories I tell are about me finding bodies, or seeing it happen. I don't know if I'm just "lucky", but things happen around me.
Swimming	I did Swim team and Water Polo as a kid. Now I swim for recreation and exercise.
The Vandals	Amusing Punk Band: The Vandals wrote a song, "I want to be a Cowboy" about a Cowboy bar (Zubies) right next door to a Punk Club (Cuckoo's), and the fights that broke out between them. A very arty way of dealing with the conflict. Since I grew up in area, and frequented both, it was personal to me.
Thinking outside the box	People will tell you to "think outside the Box". I learned early on, they don't mean it. Or more often they mean "not too much outside the box". This came up when I was in grade school. The teacher asked us all to do this, and I did it wrong -- which was ironic considering the goal of the test given was to think outside the box.
Third Point Systems Jumper	There I was in 1994, minding my own business, when I see a body fall by my window, and make a slightly wet but very loud, "smack" against the street like Gallagher mallet'ing a side of beef. Well that's not something you see/hear every day.
Those Hollywood Hills (1978)	Like any other 14 year old kid, I sewed a holster-pocket into my L.A. Dodgers wind-breaker to carry my suppressed (silenced) pistol, and a game bag, so I could hunt rabbit/quail/squirrel in Griffith Park / Hollywood Hills. A large predator guy was following me, until I scared him away with pulled the pistol and dropped a bunny. The rabbit was delicious.
Tools to make tools	Since I was using 3 different systems at the same time, to avoid errors/confusion, I just implemented my own command line (macros) that worked on all 3. It made me faster/more productive. And I will never do that again. The cost was after years of use, being less productive on anything but my own system.
What is it about my mom?	Two of my Mom's neighbors committed suicide (1997), on two continents, within a year. She didn't aprpeciate my witty quip, "What is it about you that makes people want to end their life?" It was just a joke, but she didn't appreciate it. My brother and I were laughing our asses off. She did have that effect on people.
What’s shooting like?	This is a story of what shooting is like for me, and how it differs from the stereotypes. The plural of anecdote is not data... but lies of omission, are lies. The media bombards us with selective anecdotes about how guns ruined lives, but almost never about the many, many more times a year they are just used for protection, hobby or sport. This is just some of those.
Collins:Init-Bit	Since I had solved two impossible problems (that others had failed on), my third job at Rockwell Collins was to write all the initialization and built-in test code (INIT/BIT), and as a 22 year old contractor, to manage 2 other 40-something year old employee engineers that hated each other (and didn't like consultants). So I just wrote all the code, gave them the credit, everyone was happy, and we completed on time.
Zen the Cat	This is the story of Zen... that's the name we gave to our rather mellow cat.

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👁️ See also

• Aristotle Sabouni - This section is all about me (Ari Sabouni). The initial founder/creator of the site.